Reuters World News Summary

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao will compete in the revamped Super Cup in the Saudi capital Riyadh from Jan. 12-16 after the Spanish FA agreed a contract with the Saudis until 2029 that will earn the governing body 30 million euros ($34 million) a year. Ex-PM says Kazakh leader must act fast to neutralise Nazarbayev faction Kazakhstan's president must move fast to consolidate his grip after breaking with his powerful predecessor as the country was racked last week by the deadliest violence in its 30 years of independence from Moscow, a former prime minister said on Sunday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Kazakh president steps up purge of security agency after mass unrest

Kazakhstan's president fired two more top security officials on Sunday after the worst unrest in three decades of post-Soviet independence and authorities said the situation was stabilising, with Russian-led troops guarding key facilities. The sacked officials were deputies to former intelligence chief Karim Massimov, who was arrested on suspicion of treason after violent protests swept the oil- and uranium-producing Central Asian republic that borders Russia and China.

Jerusalem church leader says Israeli extremists threaten Christian presence in city

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has accused radical Israeli groups of threatening the presence of Christians in the holy city, in remarks that Israeli officials rejected as baseless. In a column in the Times of London on Saturday, His Beatitude, Theophilos III, said he believed the aim was to drive the Christian community from Jerusalem's Old City, which has sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Death toll from Brazil waterfall rock face collapse rises to 10

Ten people died in the dramatic collapse of a canyon rock face on top of motor boats visiting a waterfall in southeastern Brazil, rescuers said on Sunday. A tower of rocks suddenly broke away from the canyon wall on Saturday and came crashing down, crushing one of the leisure boats at Capitolio in Minas Gerais state. Shocking video images circulated on social media.

Ethiopia's rebellious Tigray party accuses Eritrea of attacking its forces

The Tigray People's Liberation Front, the party that controls most of the northern Ethiopia region of Tigray, on Sunday accused Eritrea of attacking its troops. In another development in the conflict, aid organisations suspended their operations in an area of northwest Tigray where 56 civilians were killed by an air strike over the weekend, the U.N. agency for humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) said.

Sudanese security forces fire teargas at anti-coup protesters - witnesses

Sudanese security forces fired teargas at activists protesting in their thousands against the country's military rulers on Sunday, according to three witnesses in major cities.

Thousands of demonstrators marched from Omdurman to Bahri, two cities adjoining the capital Khartoum, chanting slogans denouncing military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who took power in a coup on Oct. 25 that upended a transitional power-sharing deal with civilians.

Soccer-Amnesty International urges Spanish clubs to take a stand in Saudi Arabia

Amnesty International is calling on the four clubs involved in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia this week to take a stand over women's rights and equality issues. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao will compete in the revamped Super Cup in the Saudi capital Riyadh from Jan. 12-16 after the Spanish FA agreed a contract with the Saudis until 2029 that will earn the governing body 30 million euros ($34 million) a year.

Ex-PM says Kazakh leader must act fast to neutralise Nazarbayev faction

Kazakhstan's president must move fast to consolidate his grip after breaking with his powerful predecessor as the country was racked last week by the deadliest violence in its 30 years of independence from Moscow, a former prime minister said on Sunday. As protesters torched buildings in the biggest city Almaty last Wednesday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev removed former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev as head of the powerful Security Council - a role in which Nazarbayev, 81, had continued to pull the strings despite handing over the presidency in 2019.

No concessions, no breakthroughs: Russia, U.S. cast pall on Ukraine talks

Russia said on Sunday it would not make concessions under U.S. pressure and warned that this week's talks on the Ukraine crisis might end early, while Washington said no breakthroughs were expected and progress depended on de-escalation from Moscow. The hard line from Moscow underscored the fragile prospects for negotiations that Washington hopes will avert the danger of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the tensest point in U.S.-Russia relations since the Cold War ended three decades ago.

U.S. seeks answers from Kazakhstan on need for Russian-led troops

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Washington was seeking answers from Kazakhstan officials on why they needed to call in Russian-led security forces to resolve domestic unrest, and he denounced the government's shoot-to-kill order. "We have real questions about why they felt compelled to call this organization that Russia dominates," Blinken said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" broadcast, adding that Kazakhstan should be able to deal with the protests peacefully. "We're asking for clarification on that."

West African bloc imposes economic sanctions on Mali over election delay

West Africa's main regional bloc will close borders with Mali and impose sweeping economic sanctions in response to delays holding promised elections after a 2020 military coup, the president of the bloc's commission said on Sunday. The announcement followed an extraordinary summit of the leaders of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

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